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\title{Combining Process and Ontological Modeling \\[28pt] {\large Extension Request Justification \\ PhD Research Plan}}

\author{Dmitry Solomakhin \\  Supervisor: Prof. Sergio Tessaris \\ Co-supervisor: Prof. Marco Montali}

\institute{ %KRDB Research Centre,
 Free University of Bozen-Bolzano,
 Piazza Domenicani 3, 39100 Bolzano, Italy\\
 \email{solomakhin@gmail.com\\(montali|tessaris)@inf.unibz.it}
}

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\begin{abstract}
This document is submitted as an annex to the Research and Study Report for the 3rd year of studies. It aims to justify the request for the extension of one year for the completion of the PhD programme. The main objective of this document is to determine the final direction of research and prove the feasibility of completing the thesis, given the available timeframe and the planned efforts.
\end{abstract}


\section*{Content of the document}   

The document is structured in the following way. Section 1 gives an overview of the planned structure of the PhD thesis, in order to sketch out the general story behind the PhD research. In Section 2 we discuss the core chapter of the thesis more in detail and determine missing parts of the picture to be addressed in corresponding research tasks. We then analyse each task and provide grounds and approaches for its completion. We also provide a time plan for completing the tasks within given restrictions. In the last Section 3 we present ongoing efforts of extracting the knowledge about the internal processes of the Schweitzer Project, in order to be able to reformulate it as a practical usecase.

\section{Planned Structure of the PhD thesis}

\begin{enumerate}

\item \textbf{Introduction and motivation}
\vspace{10pt} 
\item \textbf{Conventional business domain modeling}

In this section we give an overview of existing methods of data modeling used to capture the business domain, including ORM, UML, ER, ontologies, Semantics of Business Vocabulary and Rules (SBVR). 

We also introduce in this section the Ontology-Based Data Access (OBDA) approach, since we will use it later.

We pay a particular attention to the Object-Role Modeling (ORM) approach, introducing its foundations and stressing the advantages of using such a methodology, e.g. existence of tool support -- NORMA conceptual modelling tool, which allows to specify the model using controlled natural language.

We also introduce results of our previously conducted research on the encoding a fragment of ORM, called $ORM_{zero}$ into OWL in order to be able to validate and query ORM models expressed in this fragment. As a result of this research, a complementing tool for validating ORM models was developed: ORMIE (ORM Inference Engine), which allows to validate the model and produce a set of relevant inferences. 
%
\vspace{10pt}  \item \textbf{Conventional business process modeling}

In this section we give an overview of existing methods of conventional business process modeling, including BPMN, activity diagrams, Petri nets.
%
\vspace{10pt}  \item \textbf{Combining data and process modeling}

In this section we discuss the existing approaches of combining data and process modeling from the perspective of interaction of three main components: process, relational data model, conceptual model (see Fig. \ref{fig:perspective}). 

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.5\linewidth]{general_perspective.png}
	\caption{General perspective}
	\label{fig:perspective}
\end{figure}
%
\vspace{10pt} \item \textbf{Artifact-centric business process modeling}

We pay particular attention on artifact-centric business modeling and the way it has already been investigated so far in various settings, enabling different kinds of interaction between the three main components.
%
\vspace{10pt} \item \textbf{ORMGSM conceptual framework}

In this section we are going to present the core result of the PhD research, i.e. a conceptual framework as the unifying formalism for modeling both process an information layer of artifact-centric process model. As the name suggests, such a framework will combine two emerging methodologies: artifact-centric systems (GSM models) and a verifiable fragment of ORM2. 
We are going to proceed following the approach similar to the one, proposed in our (GSM3)\footnote{see the Research and Study Report for a full list of publications and their labels, used in this document} paper ``Semantic Enrichment of GSM-Based Artifact-Centric Models''.
%
\vspace{10pt}  \item \textbf{Shopfitting company case study}

In this section we analyze the current processes in the company and study the applicability of the developed approach. We divide this chapter into the following sections:
\begin{itemize}
	\item Analysis: As-is situation, it's processes and performance. 
	\item ORMGSM model: validation, verification and evaluation. 
\end{itemize}
\vspace{10pt} \item \textbf{Conclusion}

With this section we conclude the thesis, discussing main findings, limitations and discussing possible direction of future work. 

\end{enumerate}

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.5\linewidth]{ormgsm_perspective.png}
	\caption{ORMGSM perspective instantiation}
	\label{fig:ormgsm}
\end{figure}

\section{ORMGSM Framework: open research questions}

We consider the conceptual framework, combining GSM and ORM2 in the following setting (see Fig. \ref{fig:ormgsm}):

\begin{enumerate}
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	We model the information layer of the GSM model in terms of ORM. This task is supported by already existing conceptual modeling tool NORMA. At this point we also provide validation mechanisms, making use of previously developed ORM Inference Engine tool.
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	We complement the resulting ORM model with an general ORM conceptual schema which models the GSM methodology and introduces the relevant notions, e.g. milestones, stages, sentries, events and so on. Since now the data and process are expressed using the same methodology, we can build expressions, involving both process and data attributes.
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 1:} We have to make sure, that the upper ontology which models the general ORM conceptual schema, described in (GSM3) paper, is expressible in $ORM_{zero}$, a verifiable fragment of ORM2. 
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	We then define a process model in terms of Semantic GSM model on top of the given ORM schema. In order to do so, we use an ORM-based query language to specify the pre- and postconditions (sentries) of entering and completing the stage.
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 2:} We will have to extend and adapt either an already existing conceptual query language ConQuer II, or a to-appear query language LogiQL, by following the approach from (GSM3) paper.
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	We then introduce the execution semantics of the ORMGSM model as a transaction system, defined on the conceptual level, i.e. each state of the transaction system corresponds to an interpretation of the conceptual model, describing the business domain and the state of the process model at a particular moment of time. \\
	
	\textbf{N.B.} Since we can use both data and process related attributes while modeling the process, we can employ already implemented reasoning capabilities in order to avoid the situation, when the transaction is refused by the conceptual layer, because it violates some conceptual constraints. In our case, we could directly incorporate such constraints while describing the process model.
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	Since we would like also to execute the model at the conceptual level, we have to enable the possibility to define atomic tasks at the conceptual level, i.e. adapting previously introduced ORM-based query language.\\
	\textbf{N.B.} At this point we obtain a fully specified conceptual framework, which is specified and executed at the conceptual level, while storing the data also on the conceptual level. 
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 3:} To obtain the required language we will adapt either of the approaches from AAAI 2015 or Heraclitus papers.
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	As a next step, we complement our framework with a relational database, used to store and maintain the data. We do that by applying the OBDA methodology to the verifiable fragment of ORM, $ORM_{zero}$. 
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 4:} To define the mappings we can use already obtained results connecting $ORM_{zero}$ with OWL in a superposition with a standard OBDA techniques. It is worth noting, that since ORM was designed with a strong interconnection with databases in mind, such relational mapping has been already defined and even implemented to a certain extend in the NORMA conceptual modeling tool (Pro Edition).
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	Since we would like to keep advantages of specifying and executing the model at the conceptual level, but still be able to store and maintain the data in a relational database, we have to make sure, that the mappings, defined during the previous step, enjoy properties of lossless bidirectional mappings. 
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 5:} As a matter of fact, in this case we have to solve a well-known view-update problem under a certain limitations, imposed by expressivity of $ORM_{zero}$ and particular properties of GSM models. We will have to proved that we are able to propagate the updates defined at the conceptual level towards the relational database in such a way, that we can extract the same information while querying the underlying relation data in terms of conceptual queries. 
	In order to ensure this result we are going to follow the reverse database engineering approach. We also would like to stress here, that solving a view-update problem in in general a very complex task, it has already been solved under certain restriction in the software engineering world, resulting in Object-Relational Mapping approach. 
	
	\vspace{10pt} \item 
	We then show decidability of verification over ORMGSM and describe the conceptual query answering in the obtained settings.
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 6:} To show decidability of verification over ORMGSM we are going to extend our results presented in (GSM1) paper to the introduced conceptual framework, employing the previously obtained encoding of $ORM_{zero}$ into OWL. 
	\\\vspace{5pt}
	\textbf{Research Task 7:} In order to provide a mechanism of conceptual query answering, we are going to adapt the approach from (GSM3) paper by applying an unfolding mechanisms to the ORM-based formulated queries.

\end{enumerate}
\vspace{10pt}
\textbf{Timeline:} In order to solve the research questions raised above, we establish the following timeline, which takes into account both complexity of the tasks and timing restrictions imposed by the fact of being employed by Schweitzer Project, the length of sabbatical holiday provided and further opportunities to work on the thesis during the extension period. We take the end of January as a starting point. 
\\
Please, refer to the Fig \ref{fig:gantt} for a Gantt-chart representation of the timeline. 

\begin{enumerate}
	\item We first address the RT4 and RT5, as the ones requiring more effort and we plan to obtain relevant result within around 4 weeks. 
	\item We then switch to the RT1, which is to be answered in less than one week. 
	\item We then tackle the RT2 and RT3 together and expect to define the required formalisms within around 2 weeks.
	\item At last we switch to the RT6 and RT7 and incorporate all previously obtained results to complete the conceptual framework, which will require around another 2-3 weeks.
	\item After that we are going to focus on structuring and writing down the thesis, which will last for several months until the submission deadline. 
\end{enumerate}

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=\linewidth]{gantt.png}
	\caption{PhD completion timeline}
	\label{fig:gantt}
\end{figure}

\section{Industrial usecase: knowledge extraction}
During the year of my suspension I have been working as a project manager at Schweitzer, one of the leading companies in the store development and shop-fitting industry, situated in Naturno, South Tyrol. Responsibilities of a project manager include dealing with complex business processes related to different store construction projects all over the Europe, including design, planning, production, logistics, suppliers management, mounting and roll-out issues. 

The analysis of the current situation in project management has led to the understanding of the amount of planning and executional mistakes due to the lack of appropriate supporting tools, in particular process modeling tools.
In order to understand the needs of the company's project management the description of each separate role, involved in the process was studied, together with its responsibilities and tasks. A series of subject-related interviews and discussions were performed to more clearly understand the internal processes of each involved department, a subject-related workshop was held, participated by key-persons responsible for decision making. 
All these measures resulted into a draft process model, showed on the Figure \ref{fig:schweitzer_pm} in Appendix as a basis for further analysis. 

\section{Publications}

During the last 3 years of the PhD studies an adequate list of publications has been already obtained (see the attached Research and Study Report), which support different chapters of the PhD thesis. In particular, papers (ORM1-4) support Chapter 2 and Chapter 6 (sections 1-2), papers (GSM1, GSM4) support Chapter 5 and Chapter 6 (sections 4-5) and finally papers (GSM2, GSM3) support section 8 of Chapter 6.


Having said that, we believe that it would be more rational to rather focus on writing the thesis itself, than to chase for further publications. However, it is worth to be noted, that a consequent publication of the integrated results of the thesis is intended to be submitted.

\clearpage

\begin{figure}
	\centering
	\includegraphics[width=0.7\linewidth]{schweitzer_pm_90.png}
	\caption{Schweitzer Project shopfitting planning process model}
	\label{fig:schweitzer_pm}
\end{figure}

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